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Vardzia ( ka, ვარძია ) is a cave monastery site in southern Georgia, excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the left bank of the Kura River, thirty kilometres from
Aspindza Aspindza ( ka, ასპინძა) is a ''daba'' ("small town") in southern Georgia's region of Samtskhe-Javakheti with a population of 2,793 (2014 census), mostly ethnic Georgians. It is located at around . History The word "Aspindza" deriv ...
. The main period of construction was the second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred meters and in up to nineteen tiers. The monastery was an important cultural center, a place of significant literary and artistic work. The Church of the Dormition, dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. Now part of a state heritage reserve, the extended area of Vardzia-
Khertvisi Khertvisi is a village in Aspindza Municipality of Samtskhe-Javakheti region, the Republic of Georgia. Situated at the confluence of rivers Mtkvari and Paravani The Paravani ( ka, ფარავანი) is a river of southern Georgia. It is l ...
has been submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.


History

Soviet-era excavations have shown that the area of Vardzia was inhabited during the Bronze Age and indicated the reach of Trialeti culture. Cave settlements such as Uplistsikhe are known along the Kura River from at least the fifth century BC, while rock cut architecture in the context of Georgian Christianity is known from
Zedazeni Zedazeni Monastery ( ka, ზედაზნის მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox monastery, located on the Zedazeni mountain the hills of Saguramo, northeast to Mtskheta and to the east side of the Aragvi River. The monastery ...
and Garedzhi from the sixth century AD, and more locally from
Vanis Kvabebi Vanis Kvabebi ( ka, ვანის ქვაბები; en, Vani's Caves) is a cave monastery in Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia near Aspindza town and the more famous cave city of Vardzia Vardzia ( ka, ვარძია ) is a cav ...
, Cholta and Margastani from the eighth century. Four distinct building phases have been identified at Vardzia: the first during the reign of Giorgi III (1156–1184), when the site was laid out and the first cave dwellings excavated; the second between his death and the marriage of his successor Tamar in 1186, when the Church of the Dormition was carved out and decorated; the third from that date until the Battle of Basian c.1203, during which time many more dwellings as well as the defences, water supply, and irrigation network were constructed; while the fourth was a period of partial rebuilding after heavy damage in the earthquake of 1283. A number of documentary sources supplement the knowledge derived from the site's physical fabric. The collection of chronicles known as the '' History of Georgia'' refers to Tamar erecting a church to house the icon of the Virgin of Vardzia after receiving divine help in her campaigns, before transferring the monastery from Upper or Zeda Vardzia. Tamar is said to have departed from Vardzia during her campaign against the Muslims, and her ensuing victory at Basian is celebrated in the ''Hymns in Honour of the Virgin of Vardzia'' by
Ioane Shavteli Ioane Shavteli ( ka, იოანე შავთელი) was a Georgian poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries credited to have written the encomiastic poem traditionally, and unsuitably, known as ''Abdulmesiani'' (აბდულმე ...
. The ''History of Georgia'' also relates how Vardzia escaped the Mongol invaders in the 1290s. The monastery, according to chronicles, contained large amount of valuables from silver, gold and precious stones, indicating its economic prosperity. Construction on the site continued also after Tamar's death. The belltower and the southern church portal were built in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. According to the inscription above the portal, the dining hall was constructed during the rule of
atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...
Ivane Ivane is a Georgian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name John. Notable people with the name include: *Ivane Abazasdze (Georgian: იოანე აბაზასძე), 11th-century Georgian feudal lord, a duke of Kartli under Kin ...
, in the first half of the 15th century. Certain caves of the Ananauri complex were also built in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Persian
Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
chronicler
Hasan Beg Rumlu Hasan Beg Rumlu (,‎ 1530 or 1531 – ) was a 16th-century Safavid historian and military officer. A cavalryman of the '' qurchi'' corps, he is principally known for his chronicle of Safavid history; the ''Aḥsân al-Tavârikh''. Biograph ...
describes Vardzia as a "wonder", "impregnable as the wall of Alexander the Great", before recounting its sack by the Persians under Shah Tahmasp I in 1551; a near-contemporary note in the Vardzia Gospel tells of its repatriation from a Persian bazaar. After the arrival of the
Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in 1578, the monks departed and the site was abandoned. Part of the valuables were moved to the
Imereti Imereti (Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 municip ...
an village of Vardzia, where they were presumably used for construction of the church and the belltower.Закарая, П. (1983) Памятники Восточной Грузии. Искусство, Москва, 376 с. akaraya, P. Monuments of Eastern GeorgiaIn Russian)


Site

The greater Vardzia area includes fifteen churches. The most significant, apart from the Church of Dormition, are also the early eleventh-century church at Zeda Vardzia and the tenth- to twelfth-century rock village and cave churches of Ananauri. The latter contains original frescos. The main lower site was carved from the cliff's central
stratum In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
of tufaceous breccia at an elevation of thirteen hundred metres above sea level. In total it contains about 500 caves. It is divided into an eastern and a western part by the Church of the Dormition. In the eastern part of the complex are seventy-nine separate cave dwellings, in eight tiers and with a total of 242 rooms, including six chapels, "Tamar's Room", a meeting room, reception chamber, pharmacy, and twenty-five wine cellars; 185 wine jars sunk into the floor document the importance of viticulture to the monastic economy. In the western part, between the bell tower and the main church, are a further forty houses, in thirteen tiers and with a total of 165 rooms, including six chapels, a refectory with a bakery, other ovens for baking bread, and a
forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...
. Beyond the bell tower the complex rises to nineteen tiers, with steps leading to a cemetery. Infrastructure includes access tunnels, water facilities, and provision for defence. Water was supplied via 3.5 km long aqueduct from
Zeda Vardzia Zeda Vardzia ( ka, ზედა ვარძია, literally, "upper Vardzia") is an 11th-century Georgian Orthodox church, of the Theotokos, located in the Aspindza Municipality in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. The church is s ...
village. Ananauri complex is situated in the western part of Vardzia. It contains a number of caves, the church and the tunnel. The small church belongs to the hall type. It has the western portal and supplementary room from the north. The portal is decorated by frescoes. The hall decorations contain a wide variety of themes.


Church of the Dormition

The Church of the Dormition was the central spiritual and monumental focus of the site. Carved similarly from the rock, its walls reinforced in stone, it measures by , rising to a height of . The spacious hall with broad apse and conch is covered by the
barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
. Additional rooms are adjacent to the west and north. The narthex is in the southern part. The church is illuminated by three windows. The western adjacent room leads to another separate hall, which has a tunnel, ending with the cold water pool. Both church and narthex are painted; these paintings are of "crucial significance in the development of the Medieval Georgian mural painting". Its patron, Rati
Surameli The Surameli ( ka, სურამელი; pl. სურამელები, ''suramelebi'') were a noble family in the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, with notable members from the 12th century to the 14th. At the height of their influence and pr ...
, is commemorated in a
donor portrait A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. ''Donor portrait'' usually refers to the portr ...
on the north wall; the accompanying inscription reads "Mother of God, accept ... the offering of your servant Rati, '' eristavi'' of Kartli, who has zealously decorated this holy church to your glory". On the same north wall are portraits of the royal founders, Giorgi III and Tamar, holding the church model. Both are dressed in Byzantine ceremonial clothes, in crowns, with halos. Tamar lacks the ribbon that is the attribute of a married woman and her inscription includes the formula "God grant her a long life", while that of Giorgi does not; this helps date the paintings to between Giorgi's death in 1184 and Tamar's marriage in 1186. The depiction of Tamar is the earliest among the four known. Episodes from the life of Christ occupy the vaults and upper walls in a sequence, starting with the
Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
, followed by the Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Baptism, Transfiguration, Raising of Lazarus, Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Last Supper,
Washing of the Feet Maundy (from Old French ''mandé'', from Latin ''mandatum'' meaning "command"), or Washing of the Saints' Feet, Washing of the Feet, or Pedelavium or Pedilavium, is a religious rite observed by various Christian denominations. The Latin word ...
, Crucifixion, Harrowing of Hell, Ascension,
Descent of the Holy Spirit Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of ...
, and Dormition (the church is sometimes known as the Church of the
Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...
, which corresponds with the Orthodox Feast of the Dormition). At a lower level, more accessible as intercessors, are paintings of saints and
stylites A stylite ( grc, στυλίτης () 'pillar dweller', derived from () 'pillar' and syc, ܐܣܛܘܢܐ ()) or pillar-saint is a type of Christian ascetic who lives on pillars, preaching, fasting and praying. Stylites believe that the mortifi ...
. On the rear wall of the sanctuary, behind the altar, are Twelve Church Fathers. In the narthex are scenes of the
Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
, Bosom of Abraham, Angels bearing a Medallion with the Cross, and three scenes from the life of Saint Stephen; other paintings were lost in the 1283 earthquake. The paintings are not
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es, but executed in ''secco'', and "testify to contacts with the Christian Orient and the Byzantine world, but applied using local artistic traditions". The walls were painted by an artist Georgi, whose name is written in the altar part.


Management

Since 1985 the site has formed part of the Vardzia Historical–Architectural Museum-Reserve, which includes forty-six architectural sites, twelve archaeological sites, and twenty-one sites of monumental art. In 1999 Vardzia-
Khertvisi Khertvisi is a village in Aspindza Municipality of Samtskhe-Javakheti region, the Republic of Georgia. Situated at the confluence of rivers Mtkvari and Paravani The Paravani ( ka, ფარავანი) is a river of southern Georgia. It is l ...
was submitted for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a Cultural Site in accordance with criteria ii, iii, iv, v, and vi. In their evaluation, advisory body ICOMOS cited
Göreme Göreme (; grc, Κόραμα, Kòrama) is a village of around 2,000 people in Nevşehir province in Central Anatolia. It is well known for its fairy chimneys ( Turkish: ''peribacalar''), eroded rock formations, many of which were hollowed out i ...
in Cappadocia as the closest comparandum amongst cave monastery sites of international significance. In 2007 Vardzia-
Khertvisi Khertvisi is a village in Aspindza Municipality of Samtskhe-Javakheti region, the Republic of Georgia. Situated at the confluence of rivers Mtkvari and Paravani The Paravani ( ka, ფარავანი) is a river of southern Georgia. It is l ...
was resubmitted as a mixed Cultural and Natural Site in accordance also with criterion
vii VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7 Art and entertainment * The Vii, a video game console * vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad * ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album) * ''VII'' (Just-Ice album) * ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album) * ...
. From 2012, conservation of the wall paintings in the Church of the Dormition is to be carried out by the Courtauld Institute of Art in conjunction with the
National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს კულტურული მემკვიდრეობის დაცვის ეროვნული სააგენტო, ''sa ...
and
Tbilisi State Academy of Arts The Tbilisi State Academy of Arts ( ka, თბილისის სახელმწიფო სამხატვრო აკადემია) is one of the oldest universities in Georgia and Caucasus. It is located in central Tbilisi near ...
.


Panorama


See also

*
Christianity in Georgia Today 84% of the population in Georgia (country), Georgia practices Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christianity, primarily the Georgian Orthodox Church. Of these, around 2% follow the Russian Orthodox Church, around 5.9% (almost all of whom ar ...
* Culture of Georgia * Georgian polyphony * Byzantine art


References


External links


Vardzia Historical-Architectural Museum-Reserve

Vardzia-Khertvisi (UNESCO)
{{Authority control Georgian Orthodox monasteries Caves of Georgia (country) Former cities in Georgia (country) Religious organizations established in the 1180s Buildings and structures in Samtskhe–Javakheti World Heritage Tentative List Tourist attractions in Samtskhe–Javakheti Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia Cave monasteries